McKenzie Completed

The McKenzie has not turned out as I envisioned, but that is part of the learning experience of Knitting. For my first "design," I'm feeling okay about it. It's neither a startling success nor an abject failure. I do think I will lengthen it by an inch or so and add a tie closure. Some things I've learned:
1) It's good to pick-up and knit on edgings ( rather than knitting it as part of each row)because if you want to change them in anyway, you have to reknit the entire garment. Ouch!
2) Intarsia is not to be feared.
3) Always make stripes in rows of even numbers to avoid lots of ends, as you can just run the unused color up the side and pick it up when you're ready.
4) Often knitting a yarn at a larger gauge than suggested may result in a garment with less body.

If i learn from my mistakes then it's all worth it, especially as I have a sweet little sweater to wear too! I still love the yarn, Dream-in-Color's "Smooshy" I have a lot leftover and I'm planning some cabled mitts.

The McKenzie, ripped and re-knitted

Aaargh! I got to the lower edge of my cardi, and it was too big. Worse yet, the arm holes were too big- by an inch and a half. that meant ripping back 4 inches and re-knitting. So I did it, and I decided to finish with ribbing instead of seed stitch, because even when I reduced my stitch count, the seed stitch still seemed to flare out. This experience has convinced me that the top-down method is the way to go, because if I'd done it bottom-up, I wouldn't have found out about the sizing issue until it was finished and sewn up. And I would have had a too big cardigan to never wear. So despite the extra work, I'm still happy. Plus, Since I made the sweater 2 inches smaller around, it took less time to re -knit. I'm working on the sleeves now, and I still love the yarn.

McKenzie Cardi

Still trying to figure out how to get my posts the way I want them. Until then, I'll show my McKenzie in this post instead of in that post.
I'm excited about this project! I hope it turns out the way I envision it. Or that I love what I end up with as much as I love my fantasy.

Rethinking my Season of Lace project

So i took another look at Laminaria- the project that I'd decided on for the SoL, and it looks complex to a level which is causing me anxiety. However, my biggest problem is that I don't really wear shawls, and I would be super-bummed to knit a lovely lacy beauty only to have it sit there looking gorgeous where no one will ever see it. So I'm considering trying to rechart the pattern for a stole- which I know I would wear and even if I didn't I have a lot of loved ones who would. I'm thinking that the re-charting would be a challenge- and that's my happy euphemism for humongous pain in the booty! Still, it would be a worthy effort and amazing to accomplish.
Of course I'm contemplating this all while knitting my cardi which I'm calling the McKenzie because the stripes of color remind me of the way sunlight and shade play with the colors in the river as they move across the water. I'm knitting from the top down and I joined the fronts and back at the underarm about an inch and a half ago and I'm cruising down. Since it is going to be a cropped, tie- front style that means I'm about 1/2 way done. I'm knitting it in Smooshy Dream-in-Color and the yarn is wonderful- squishy, soft, and stretchy. It's a dream to knit with!